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12-14-2017, 04:11 PM
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#1
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Site Team
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Spring Branch, TX
Posts: 7,818
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Added 200 Watts of Solar to my OEM 100 watt setup
My 2017 Adventruer 37F came with one 100-watt Zamp Solar panel, a 3-port solar port on the roof and a 30-amp PWM Solar Controller. I was thinking of filling out the system with two more 100-Watt panels and priced out Zamp panels at around $400 each.
After doing some reading on the subject I decided to go with Renogy solar panels. They're about $130 per panel for 100-watt panels. The most difficult part was making the transition from Renogy's MC4 electrical connectors to Zamp's SAE connectors to use the Zamp 3-port solar port on the roof.
It was really super easy after the polarity and connectors were all straightened out.
I did this to power our residential fridge for longer trips without needing the generator to keep the batteries topped up. It may be more than I need but the cost to go from 100-watts to 300-watts was only about $300 all inclusive.
Here's the set up on my roof. (the two antenna's on the right front are WiFi Ranger Elite and Weboost Drive 4g-X mini-stub).
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2017 Winnebago Adventurer 37F
2016 Lincoln MKX Toad
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12-15-2017, 05:47 AM
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#2
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Winnebago Owner
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Fleming Island, Fl
Posts: 124
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Nice work.
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Bob, & Leah, USN Retired
2016 Itasca Suncruiser 38Q
2014 Chevy Equinox LTZ/Blue Ox Tow Bar
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12-17-2017, 05:37 PM
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#3
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Site Team
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: CA
Posts: 1,517
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Great job! I ordered my 2017 Adventurer 35P with 300 watts, and the extra power when dry camping is great! Happy travels!
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12-18-2017, 04:10 PM
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#4
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Winnebago Camper
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 32
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Umm, from the photo, it looks like you're using non-UV resistant wires, are you?
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12-18-2017, 04:57 PM
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#5
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Winnebago Owner
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Alaska in Summer Snow Birds in Winter
Posts: 79
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That looks great CP. So once you determined polarity was it just a matter of splicing in to the wires on your existing solar panel? You didn't have to drill any more holes in the roof to fish wires through? I'm guessing the Zamp solar port in the roof is stock from the factory. I'm also guessing that the panel in the bottom of the picture is the original and the other two are the ones you added?
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Tom and Sherry W.
06 Winnebago Adventurer 38J Workhorse W24 Lots of motor and suspension mods in the works
02 Itasca Suncruiser 35U. Workhorse W22 w/Safe-T-Plus, Koni FSDs, UltraTrac, etc, etc.
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12-18-2017, 07:57 PM
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#6
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Site Team
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Spring Branch, TX
Posts: 7,818
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Correct. The RV came with one 100-watt panel, the 3-port input on the roof, wiring and the 30-amp solar controller. I just had to plug the two new panels into the unused inputs on the Port. And to do that I just had to splice on the Zamp SAE style plugs onto the Renogy MC4 wires. Almost all solar panels come with MC4 plugs - while ZAMP uses SAE.
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2017 Winnebago Adventurer 37F
2016 Lincoln MKX Toad
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12-18-2017, 07:58 PM
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#7
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Site Team
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Spring Branch, TX
Posts: 7,818
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fourgonbound
Umm, from the photo, it looks like you're using non-UV resistant wires, are you?
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I used Renogy wires 10 ga, made for exterior use.
__________________
2017 Winnebago Adventurer 37F
2016 Lincoln MKX Toad
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12-18-2017, 09:04 PM
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#8
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Winnebago Camper
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 32
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Quote:
Originally Posted by creativepart
I used Renogy wires 10 ga, made for exterior use.
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Sounds good!
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